The Trump administration and the Department of Justice have launched an investigation into the UC San Diego School of Medicine’s compliance with diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements in the school’s admissions to verify that race is not used as a basis for admission. On March 25, the DOJ sent the School of Medicine a letter requesting its admission data for the last seven years.

According to the letter, if the information is not sent by April 26, UCSD SOM risks losing federal funding. The Trump administration also sent similar letters to Ohio State University and Stanford University. This letter does not affect UCSD’s undergraduate admissions.

Though the text of the letter is not public, the requested applicant admission data includes students’ addresses, legacy status, donor status, and standardized test scores, according to The New York Times, who broke the story on March 26. 

The Supreme Court determined that affirmative action policies in college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause in two 2023 decisions: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. The DOJ launched this investigation to determine whether the schools’ admissions processes abided by these Supreme Court rulings.

The SOM’s admissions abide by Proposition 209 — a California measure that bans the consideration of race, sex, and ethnicity from employment, public education, and public contracting. In early 2025, the SOM updated its website to provide a “Non Discrimination Statement” highlighting its adherence. 

In the 2025 admissions cycle, the SOM received 10,400 applicants and 140 students matriculated. According to the SOM’s admissions data, first-generation graduate students made up 41% of matriculated students. 

UCSD as a whole received $1.7 billion in federal funding this fiscal year — a 1.7% decrease from the year prior. Of this amount, the SOM alone receives over $425 million, the 14th largest amount received from the National Institutes of Health among nationwide universities. 

“UC San Diego was notified March 25 that the Department of Justice is commencing an investigation, and we are reviewing the notice,” a statement from University Communications read. “UC San Diego is committed to fair process in all of our programs and activities, including admissions, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws.”

Attorneys general from 17 Democratic states, including California, are currently suing the Trump administration for violating student privacy with its data requests. The suit claims President Donald Trump is attempting to use the National Center for Education Statistics, a nonpartisan agency, to enforce anti-DEI policies. On Friday, federal judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled in the states’ favor, stating that the Trump administration could not demand public colleges nationwide to provide detailed student admissions data. 

The Friday decision follows a March 13 ruling by Saylor that temporarily blocked the Department of Education from enforcing a March 18 deadline for colleges to provide student data such as race, gender, and test scores. 

On Tuesday, the judge also blocked the Department of Education from requiring student admissions data from colleges that are part of the Association of American Universities and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts until April 14. Both associations will join the lawsuit and represent over 100 public and private universities nationwide. 

UCSD has not commented on the judge’s decision.